When it comes to the captive breeding of fish, which species do you think will be targeted in the future?

[Zionas]

Right now, the type of fish that are most often commercially bred, by far, tend to be Clownfish especially A. ocellaris and A. percula but also the Tomato, Cinnamon, Red Saddleback, and Maroon Clownfish.

In the future, my personal prediction is that we’ll see much more widespread captive breeding of Tangs, some angelfish, basslets, damsels, wrasses, and for larger fish maybe the Marine Betta.

I predict the genus Genicanthus will become a lot more popular among angelfish and become a prime target for captive breeding programs in the future, along with the truly large angels (Holacanthus and Pomacanthus), more widespread Centropyge breeding, maybe even Apolemichthys and Chaetodonpolus.


For Tangs, Yellow Tangs may well become the second most widely bred species of marine fish after the Clowns. The other Zebrasoma tangs may follow the Yellow Tang. After the Zebrasomas the next species to be targeted by captive breeding programs may be Dory (Regal Blue).


For damsels, I predict the Azure and Yellowtail Damsels as well as different kinds of Chromis may become widely available captive bred in the future. Many species though may not be good candidates for captive breeding due to their aggression.


For wrasses I can see the Six-Line, Yellow Coris, Fairy and Flasher Wrasses being the first groups of wrasses to be targeted for captive breeding. Fairy / Flasher Wrasses may well become the fan-tailed guppies of saltwater aquariums in the future.


For basslets, I predict the Royal Gramma will be followed by the Blackcap and Swissguard Basslets, and then the Assessors (all 3 species) will be bred in larger quantities in the future.


As for other fish such as butterflies, I doubt we’ll be able to find them captive bred for a long time. However, among the butterflies, if I had to predict the first species to be captive bred, I would have to bet on the Heniochus spp., maybe even the Copperband, followed by the Raccoon, Auriga, Longnose (F. flavissimus) and Klein’s.


My personal prediction is the next species after Clownfish to attain parity in terms of captive bred numbers would be Z. flavescens by a pretty long mile.

In 10-15 years, captive bred Z. flavescens may become the norm rather than the exception.


Possible: Siganus spp., starting from S. unimaculatus, S. vulpinus, and S. magnificus. Genome extraction would look similar to that for Zebrasoma tangs.


I would love to hear your thoughts on what I feel is a very interesting topic and what is necessary for our hobby.

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

Chaetodon miliaris has already been captive bred by biota so it wouldnt be a heniochus, but hopefully in the future they will
And captive bred azure damsels are already quite readily available.
Chaetodontoplus is already quite intensely bred by pomalabs.

 

[Nick Steele]

I can see angels becoming a huge focus on many fronts along with different species of tangs.

As far as damsels there are already captive bred lemons, azure, Talbots, yellow tails (Not many) and a new one the pink smith damsels. And a few more in the beginning of captive breeding.

I would really like to see wrasses focused on but I’m not too sure that will happen shortly.

 

[mort]

The problem with captive breeding is making a profit which makes cheap fish less worthwhile (for the company not the hobby) to produce. Quite a lot of the fish you mention above have been bred already but more as a look what we did, rather than a profit thing. If you look at angelfish it's been a very long time since many were first bred but only the expensive ones are being continually looked at because it's hard to compete with natural stocks. It wasn't that long ago that mandarins were bred but weren't profitable enough to actually continue with, although a few are still produced now.
We also have to consider that some species take a huge amount of resources and time to get to market with a good example being the harlequin tusk fish (from memory it took over a year to get a sellable sized fish and they were so predatory they ate each other so that's a lot of tank space).

I love the idea of captive breeding and have attempted to breed as much as I can but it's very difficult for some species and I think in the case of some like clownfish, that are easy, detrimental to them when things like stubbiness and long fins are bred in. What I'd like to see moving forward is a continued effort to raise lots of the harder to collect, acclimate or find species that might make good aquarium species. There are plenty of species that are abundant in the sea but don't ship or acclimate well to the captive environment, but would make good fish if they were captive bred. A good example would be the red spot cardinal that a poor shipper or the sea goldie which is a terrible shipper but would make a nice feature group.

 

[pcon]

I am scratching my head for how you came up with these predictions. They don’t seem to be based in the state of the art of marine breeding.

In addition to clownfish A number of damsels and cardinal fish are being captive bred, along with dotty backs, and quite few species of blennies and gobies.

Genicanthus have been bred for a number of years and the only one which has really stuck has been G. Personatus. Biota introduced swallowtails about a year ago but they aren’t available recently. Centropyge, and Chaetodontoplus seem to be the most prolific on the market at the moment. All the genus have been commercially available in the past couple years, yet excluding those two they have seemed to have faded in either market or breeder interest.

I certainly hope yellow tangs are never bred in the numbers that clowns are. As far fewer tanks are appropriate for a tang compared to a clownfish. Also blue tangs have already been captive bred as have several other species of tangs. While it would be nice to see CB options regularly available, I hope tangs never come close to clown breeding levels.

as stated already many damsels including the ones you mentioned and some chromis are already available captive bred.

Yellow halichores have already been captive bred by researches. As have radiant wrasses. As have a large variety of hogfish including, very recently, the legendary sanguinus hog fish.

As for basslets you might want to watch some of the Todd Gardner talks on the subject. For years he has used royal gramma as an example as a species not suited to commercial culture. Only changing his opinion in the last year or so. Lipopoma have not seen much traction in captive breeding though candy bass have been bred before.

Your butterfly predictions are the most confusing. As mentioned commercially cultured butterfly fish are already on the market, and they are not bannerfish like you predict. Then you mention several from unrelated groups. Several of which have already been captive bred in small quantities.

Several Siganus spp. Aka rabbit fish are being bred commercially already.

Reef 2 Rainforest puts out a list of captive bred marine fish each year, great place to look and see what has been done, they even color code the list to show what sort of availability it has. I would recommend watching the Macna talks on the subject. Also following the marine breeding initiative on Facebook or their forums or the marine breeding Facebook groups are great sources for more information on what marine breeding looks like right now at the research and commercial levels.

 

[Zionas]

Thanks for the recommendations.

Yeah, I think the captive breeding (on a commercial level) of difficult / rare / inaccessible species would definitely be a huge step in the right direction. To be honest, the hardiness of some species banks almost entirely on their captive bred specimens, with Clownfish being the prime example.

 

[najer]

A handful of years ago three captive bred flame angels came to the UK, I had the first one.
I paid twice what was the going rate for a wild one for her and she was so small she could swim through egg crate.
She is lighter in colour but gorgeous and is still reef safe!
... This was the main reason I bought her, she didn't even get un bagged at the lfs, I can't see why seeing coral as food would be genetic? Just my opinion.

I guess she is very rare and her cost never even crossed my mind, I hope they get better with angels.
Excuse the pic she was having none of the camera today!

 

[Zionas]

Yeah a lot of captive bred fish do seem to have lighter colors than wild caught specimens but that’s OK because I want them to live. If their wild counterparts are already very hardy, captive bred specimens are a bonus and a bonus to reef conservation.

 

[Crustaceon]

The revolution I see coming are fish that are genetically engineered to remain small. Imagine yellow and hippo tangs that reach an adult size of 1-2”. Far more people could then have an appropriately-sized system for many fish they would otherwise never be able to keep.

 

[Angel_Anthias lover]

The revolution I see coming are fish that are genetically engineered to remain small. Imagine yellow and hippo tangs that reach an adult size of 1-2”. Far more people could then have an appropriately-sized system for many fish they would otherwise never be able to keep.

If im being honest, im not sure thats a great idea, that would be an extreme genetic deformity, probably created my inbreeding, and most likely cause numerous issues and disabilities. All be it, it would be nice to have mini tangs, im just not sure its a good idea to create them and try to reverse millions of years of evolution .

 

[92Miata]

It wasn't that long ago that mandarins were bred but weren't profitable enough to actually continue with, although a few are still produced now.

Both Biota and ORA are breeding them, selling for almost $100/each, and don't seem to be be able to keep up with demand.

 

[Zionas]

I have to agree that selling “bonsai” Tangs is not a good idea. That’s almost like selective breeding but selecting for genetic defects. Shorter lifespan and higher risk of numerous health issues. I’d rather have my 8” Yellow Tang and 1’ Regal Blue (well, not on maybe list but still). I already disagree with Biota’s miniature Coral Beauties. Hard one. I do sympathize with people who want these fish but don’t have enough space (temporarily or for the foreseeable future), but then when we look at the genetic altering behind creating these miniature versions, I’m not so sure. Tricky.

 

[mort]

Both Biota and ORA are breeding them, selling for almost $100/each, and don't seem to be be able to keep up with demand.

Yeah it's curious because about 8-9 years mandarins first became available captive bred (I think it was ora but the brains a little rusty) and they were pretty short lived. I imported a few pairs over here and there was virtually no interest even though they were far cheaper than they are selling for today. I think it was only the spotted species we could get but I'm very pleased that demand has increased and they are now proving worthwhile again.

Unfortunately this doesn't seem the case for other captive raised species as there has been a limited uptake on many captive bred angels and tangs, at least the wholesaler has been unable to shift them or has had to massively reduce the cost. I'm all for captive bred but sometimes it's just impossible to shift them at a price that makes them profitable.

 

[mort]

As for basslets you might want to watch some of the Todd Gardner talks on the subject. For years he has used royal gramma as an example as a species not suited to commercial culture.

It's interesting how other countries do things. I think I'm right in saying that royal grammas are bred in Australia and limited/banned/heavily controlled as imports to keep the breeding profitable. I was chatting to an Australian friend and he said it cost well over a 100 dollars for a wild one if you could get one. It was a similar thing with cleaner shrimps that were over 150 dollars.

 

[ruegaroo]

Yellow tangs are already captive bred

 

[92Miata]

Yeah it's curious because about 8-9 years mandarins first became available captive bred (I think it was ora but the brains a little rusty) and they were pretty short lived. I imported a few pairs over here and there was virtually no interest even though they were far cheaper than they are selling for today. I think it was only the spotted species we could get but I'm very pleased that demand has increased and they are now proving worthwhile again.

Unfortunately this doesn't seem the case for other captive raised species as there has been a limited uptake on many captive bred angels and tangs, at least the wholesaler has been unable to shift them or has had to massively reduce the cost. I'm all for captive bred but sometimes it's just impossible to shift them at a price that makes them profitable.

I think that the general perspective of the population with regards to sustainability/etc has changed quite a bit in the intervening decade.

We've got some biota mandarins, and they've been great - and we ordered a captive bred Coral Beauty - but through a shipping mixup ended up with somebody else's captive bred Blue Devil damsel - who besides loving to dig seems to be a fine fish.

The captive bred angels and tangs are just too pricey for me. $100 is about as high as I'm willing to go for a fish - and too many of them (besides the coral beauties) are $300+

 

[AlexG]

I would like to see more species of anthias become available as some of the more difficult species being captive bred could make them much easier to maintain in an aquarium. Others would be wrasses, puffers, triggers (have seen some available).

 

[Han]

I’d like to see predatory fish being captive bred, but unfortunately I don’t think it’s possible right now for most species. A lot of these fish have abysmal survival rates in captivity so it would be nice if captive bred specimens could change that.

 

[Crustaceon]

If im being honest, im not sure thats a great idea, that would be an extreme genetic deformity, probably created my inbreeding, and most likely cause numerous issues and disabilities. All be it, it would be nice to have mini tangs, im just not sure its a good idea to create them and try to reverse millions of years of evolution .

I think we’re in the same boat with any captive breeding program. Eventually new dna has to be introduced and if everyone breeds mocha storms, we’ll eventually start seeing deformities. This happens frequently with dog breeds and is a form of forced evolution as well.

 

[eschaton]

The revolution I see coming are fish that are genetically engineered to remain small. Imagine yellow and hippo tangs that reach an adult size of 1-2”. Far more people could then have an appropriately-sized system for many fish they would otherwise never be able to keep.

Wouldn't it be better to just develop captive breeding of algae-eating blennies? To the best of my knowledge, all of the blennies which are currently captive breed are the fangblennies of the genus Meiacanthus, which are of course not herbivorous.